ITU Digital
Access Index
Chapter 5
2003 World
Telecommunication
Development Report
Access Indicators for the
Information Society
Press Briefing
19 November 2003
UN
Why measure access?
“We, the representatives of the peoples of the world,
assembled in Geneva from 10-12 December 2003 for
the first phase of the World Summit on the Information
Society, declare our common desire and commitment to
build a people-centered, inclusive and development
oriented Information Society, where everyone can
create, access, utilize and share information and
knowledge, enabling individuals, communities and
peoples to achieve their full potential in promoting their
sustainable development and improving their quality of
life…”
—World Summit on the Information Society,
Declaration of Principles, Draft of 14 November 2003
Why an index?
A selection of indicators compiled into an
index gives a better overview than any
single indicator
Why an another ICT index?
• Almost all existing ICT
indices concentrate primarily Index 1 178
Index 2
on developed economies Index 3
• Some do not use DAI
internationally comparable 120
indicators and some have
100
methodological snags or are
82
susceptible to distortions due
to the use of qualitative 60
53
variables
• Most are not specifically
15
targeted at measuring ICT 8
access
• Wherever these indices use Variables Countries
too many variables,
transparency compromised
Digital Access Index
• ITU expertise:
– Leading source of ICT data
! Broadband ! Fixed
– Analysis and research subscribers telephone
strength subscribers
QUALITY INFRA-
• Inclusive: STRUCTURE
– 178 economies, most of ! International
any other ICT index ! Mobile
Internet cellular
• Transparent: bandwidth USAGE subscribers
– 5 categories, 8 indicators, ! Internet users
easy to decode !Internet
! Literacy access
• Classifications: price
– High, upper, medium, low
KNOWLEDGE AFFORDABILITY
• Flexibility:
! School
– gender sub-index
enrolment
– national indices
– index over time
Compiling DAI: Hong Kong, China
÷ = * =
HK, Goal- Indicator Weight Index value
Category Variable China post
1. Fixed telephone subscribers per
56.6 60 0.94 ½ 0.47
1. Infra- 100 inhabitants
+ 0.93
structure 2. Mobile cellular subscribers per
91.6 100 0.92 ½ 0.46
100 inhabitants
2. Afford- 3. 1 – (Internet access price as
99.8 100 0.998 1 0.998
ability percentage of per capita income)
4. Adult literacy 93.5 100 0.94 2/3 0.62
3. Know-
5. Combined primary, secondary + 0.83
ledge 63.0 100 0.63 1/3
and tertiary school enrolment level 0.21
6. International Internet bandwidth
1’867 10’000 0.88a ½ 0.44
4. Quality (bits) per capita
+ 0.68
7. Broadband subscribers per 100
14.6 30 0.49 ½ 0.21
inhabitants
8. Internet users per 100
5. Usage 43.0 85 0.51 1 0.51
inhabitants
Digital Access Index (Average of 5 categories above) 0.79
Note: a) Because of the large spread of values among economies, a logarithm is used to calculate this value:
(LOG (1’867) – LOG (0.01)) / (LOG (10’000) – LOG (0.01))
Where ICTs are headed
Fixed telephone subscribers Mobile telephone subscribers
per 100 inhabitants in Sweden per 100 inhabitants in Taiwan, China
70
100
65 80
60 60
40
55
20
50 0
1975 1985 1995 1988 1991 1994 1997 2000
Broadband Internet subscribers Internet users
in Korea (Rep.) per 100 inhabitants in Iceland
100 100 % of
Per 100
80 households 80 sample
60 Per 100 60 pop-
inhabitants ulation
40 40 (12-80) % of entire
20 20 population
0 0
1997 99 01 03 05 07 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006
Top 10
Infra- Afford- Know-
Economy structure ability ledge Quality Usage DAI
1 Sweden 0.94 0.99 0.99 0.64 0.67 0.847
2 Denmark 0.89 0.99 0.99 0.66 0.60 0.828
3 Iceland 0.89 0.99 0.96 0.50 0.76 0.820
4 Korea (Rep.) 0.74 0.99 0.96 0.74 0.65 0.817
5 Norway 0.84 0.99 0.99 0.55 0.59 0.793
6 Netherlands 0.78 0.99 0.99 0.61 0.60 0.792
7 Hong Kong, China 0.93 1.00 0.83 0.68 0.51 0.790
8 Finland 0.81 0.99 0.99 0.55 0.60 0.786
9 Taiwan, China 0.98 0.99 0.95 0.56 0.45 0.786
10 Canada 0.69 0.99 0.97 0.64 0.60 0.779
11 United States 0.74 0.99 0.97 0.54 0.65 0.778
24 Slovenia 0.78 0.97 0.94 0.44 0.44 0.716
State of the world
0.9 DAI
0.8 # countries
58 Infra-
0.7 55
structure
0.6
0.5 40
Usage Affordability
0.4
0.3 25
0.2
Quality Knowledge
0.1
0
High Upper Medium Low
High Upper Medium Low
Reversal of fortune
Change in rank
relative to 40
DAI
economies
2002
0.81
0.78 0.79 0.78
0.77 0.77
0.74 0.75 0.75
0.72 -5 -5
-3 +4 +6 +20
-8 +5 +13
-9 0.66 0.66
0.61 0.61
0.60 0.59
DAI 0.58 0.56 0.56 0.55
1998
New Australia United Canada United Japan Singapore Hong Taiwan, Korea
Zealand States Kingdom Kong, China (Rep.)
China
2003 World Telecommunication
Development Report
Access Indicators for the
Information Society
Launch 8 December 2003
World Summit on the
Information Society (WSIS)
[Geneva, December 2003]
Main event [December 10-12]
http://www.itu.int/wsis
Statistical event [December 8-9]
http://www.unece.org/stats/doc
uments/2003.12.wsis.htm
Thank you!
Michael.Minges@itu.int